English Teaching Materials

It’s been almost one month since I started to draw pictures for ESL materials. I’ve drawn over 400 pictures now! It was a long month, but very productive. The pictures are lined up now and you can see samples of each category.

Right now I’m drawing “verbs” but there will be more pictures to be added later. I wonder how many verbs teachers introduce in class??? I’ve drawn around 33 verb pictures, but it looks like there will be more than at least 50. Of course this doesn’t include difficult vocabulary that advanced level students would use.

From 2011, English will be the mandatory subject in Japanese elementary schools. I hope my materials will help lots of new and old English teachers!

I’m going to publish this material page, too. I’d like to donate some of the profits I’ll be making to the needy people in this world. In this heat, I wonder how people in those countries are surviving…..I feel bad to use the airconditioner or drive and have more CO2 out in the air, which makes it more difficult for them to live without the airconditioners and cars.

Soon, the pictures will be available in the subscription page!

It’s been one month since I made an entry here. I’ve been working so hard with drawings recently and have been having stiff sholers and neck.

I’m going to change my web design soon so all teachers and parents can view my site more effectively. Right now I have this blog space, but I’m thinking of changing it to categorize themes.

Until then, here are some more sample drawings I’ve been making.

These are just sample pictures. I think I’ve been drawing at least 100 pictures so far!

I drew some pictures for an English site the other day.You might see the pictures in this site in a couple of days. I drew buildings in the city such as church, supermarket, movie teaher….Drawing humans is easier than drawing buildings and animals. I’ll put up some sample pictures here too. His site is full of useful materials and I’m glad I got to help him and ESL teachers who use his site.

gas station  hospital station

 Yesterday I tried to find good phonics cards to recommend. I found some good English teaching materials, but not phonics cards.

 The reason that I didn’t find any good ones was that they put big Alphabet and small Alphabet on the cards. For example, “A says a, a, apple”—had A and a written on the card. If they are aiming at students who can recognize and read alphabets, then this should be fine. However, if the students’ level or age is low, they should see only big alphabet or small alphabet only. Usually, most words are written with small alphabet letters, so phonics might have to be introduced after they remember big alphabet and small alphabet shapes and names.

 Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to make phonics cards for both students who can recognize and read alphabets, and students who can’t.

 There are lots of English teaching materials, but I guess all of them have advantages and disadvantages. I hope English teaching is going to be more productive and helpful for the learners and I wish to help making good materials, too.

 I’d like to recommend some books to use in class as well as to study English.

1 This is a Japanese version to teach English to elementary school students (from 2011, English will be introduced as a mandatory subject at elementary school). The book has a CD-ROM, pictures and game discription. If you are foreigners, probably the games are unreadable, but you may be able to use the flashcards. 2011年からの小学校英語必須化に伴い、さまざまな本がでています。この本にはフラッシュカード、CD-ROM, ゲームの内容が書いてあるらしく、初めて英語を教える人にはお勧めだそうです。

2 This is an English song books that lots of people wrote reviews on. The most reviews are giving two thumbs up! It has English songs as well as some ideas of fingerplay. Although some people say some fingerplays do not work with all the kids, but kids love to listen and sing songs in class and in the car, too. 英語の歌が収録されています。ほとんどの利用者の方が、絶賛していて、指遊びなど歌と一緒にできる遊びも書かれてあるので、子供がとても喜ぶそうです。車の中や、クラスの中でもいっぱい活躍しているそうです!　確かに、教えているときに歌になると突然元気になる子が多く、振り付けをすると、一緒に振り付けをしてくれるので、子供の注意をひくには歌は最高ですよ!もちろん、先生も親も歌わないといけないですけどね。

 3 This is a book for expressions & grammar of junior high school classes. It’s fun to teach grammar and expressions using games and flashcards. 中学生の英語表現や文法指導のアイデアワークブックです。ただでさえうんざりしてしまって中学で英語を挫折する人が多い中、ゲームで教えていくというのは画期的ですね。

4 This has lots of challengins vocabulary in it. There are similar words listed below one word, and it has example sentenses and explanations to help remembering the word. I have this book myself and I’m still using it to get higher scores on the TOEIC. I have this book because I need to keep and improve my English levels. Teaching English to beginners in Japan sometimes require teachers to use simple and easy vocabulary instead. I highly recommend this book to teachers who can speak well but cannot fully feel confident in their level.  学生のころや、留学時代には覚えていた単語がどんどん抜けていっている先生方多くないですか。TOEICで点数をとることはもちろん大切ですが、この本はそれだけでなく、ひとつの単語を覚えるのと同時に、似た単語や、例文があります。時間を計る欄もあって、メリハリよく勉強できると思います。英語教育をしている人が、中途半端な英語力で教えていてはだめですよね。毎日、少しずつでも、今よりもレベルアップできたら。。。素敵ですね!!

Here are some more sample pictures of insects today. Tomorrow I’ll start drawing “hobby” pictures.

bee  dragonfly  snail

So far, I’ve darwn the follwing.

1. feelings

2. statinery goods

3. ever day activities

4. animals

5. insects

Once all the pictures are done, I’ll set up a different page for subscribers. Please look forward to it!

I’ve been spending most of my spare time just drawing pictures for this page. I’m almost done with the animal pictures and all the other pictures will be categorized later.

Here are some more sample pictures.

deer  dog  hamster

horse  monkey  mouse

Here is the list of my animal pictures.

1 tiger   2 cheetah   3 monkey   4 mouse   5 horse   6 snake   7 hippo   8 sheep   9 deer   10 gorilla

11 goat   12 otter   13 seal   14 dolphin   15 giraffe   16 elephant   17 panda   18   duc   19 camel   20 bear

21 racoon   22 boar   23 fox   24 hamster   25 wolf 26 dog    27 cat   28 lion   29 zebra   30  koala  

31   kangaroo   32  cow   33 squirrel   34 pig   35rabbit  

Wow! I didn’t know that I’ve drawn 35 animals so far!

weekendです。週末に全部の絵をここに載せる予定でしたが、予定は少し遅れそうです。もう少しいろんな絵を描いて、サンプルをここに出してビジターの反応を見てみようと思います。

今日のサンプルは「動詞」。一日にする動作表現をいくつかビックアップしてみました。

take a bath do the laundry

eat dinner go to bed

次は文房具や、動物の絵なんか描いてみようと思います。

それにしても暑いですね～みなさん、体調にはくれぐれも気をつけてくださいね!

注意　　ここのサンプルはコピー禁止です。みなさん、About読んでくださいね。

onion  pumpkin tomato  spinach

 さっそく昨日野菜のイラストを縮小してみました! 他にもキャベツや、ニンジン、ピーマン、大根、などなど冷蔵庫にあるものを描いてみました。すべてここにラインナップするのは今週末です。お楽しみに!

もう一つ、昨日サンプルで描いてみました。感情を表す形容詞を絵にしてみましたよ。ここでは三つだけとりあげておきます。

nervous tired happy

こんな感じのものがあります。他には　angry, disappointed, thirsty, hungry, sleepy, sad, upset, surprised, hot, cold, excited, shy, sorry, scared, relievedを作ってみました。できあがったら今週末にラインナップしますね。乞うご期待!!

 注意　許可なくここからコピーをすることを禁じます。